Paynesville-A strong message of urgency, partnership, and national responsibility defined the 27th C Certificate, 22nd Associate Degree, and 3rd Bachelor Degree convocation of LICOSESS College of Education on Saturday, April 25, as keynote speaker and Political Advisor to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, MacDella Mackie Cooper and the institutional President Dr. Benjamin Y. Wehye called for transformation of Liberia’s education sector.
By: Willie N. Tokpah, [email protected]
Speaking on behalf of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., Cooper challenged graduates and stakeholders alike to rethink their role in shaping the country’s future, declaring that education must no longer be seen as the sole responsibility of government.
“Education is not government’s duty alone, it is the collective responsibility of every citizen, every institution, every community, and every home,” she said, warning that failure to embrace this shared duty could jeopardise Liberia’s long-term development.
Delivering her address under the theme “Reshaping Primary Education in Liberia for a Brighter Future,” Cooper described the more than 1,500 graduating teachers as central to rebuilding the nation’s foundation, emphasizing that “the power is in the educator” and not merely in infrastructure.
Teachers at the Core of Reform
While highlighting government efforts, including increased education funding in the 2025 fiscal year and ongoing reforms under the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, Cooper stressed that physical expansion alone cannot guarantee quality education.
“The strength of any education system rests on the quality of its teachers,” she said.
“The foundation of every engineer, doctor, leader, and innovator begins in a primary classroom.”
She pointed to ongoing partnerships with international institutions such as the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations, and others as critical to supporting Liberia’s education agenda, but maintained that national progress ultimately depends on the commitment of trained educators entering classrooms.
Historic Graduation Signals Shift
For his part, LICOSESS IN Teachers College President Dr. Benjamin Y. Wehye, in his opening remarks, described the ceremony as a defining milestone, marking the largest single graduation of educators from any one institution in Liberia’s history, with over 1,200 graduates across multiple disciplines and levels.
“This convocation marks a turning point,” the institution declared, noting that the graduates will help reduce the country’s persistent shortage of qualified teachers and improve the pupil-qualified teacher ratio.
“It means once empty classrooms will now have qualified teachers. It means that once underserved learners will now be guided properly. And it means hope,” Wehye emphasized.
Resilience and Institutional Commitment
Dr. Wehye also reflected on the institution’s 31-year journey, underscoring its resilience through Liberia’s civil crisis and more recent challenges, including the abrupt shutdown of the USAID TESTS Program.
Despite the setback, he said LICOSESS retained over 1,000 students, with more than 700 beneficiaries of the program graduating, over 500 of them women, highlighting a growing push for gender inclusion in education.
“This is not just an institutional achievement; it is a national triumph,” the leadership noted.
Innovation Meets Reality
A key highlight of the event was the announcement of a new partnership with Learning for Humanity, Canada, introducing a digital e-learning platform designed to function even in low-connectivity environments through offline servers.
“This is what a Center of Excellence does, we do not wait for the future; we prepare our graduates to lead it,” Dr. Wehye averred.
In addition, Dr. Wehye maintained, that LICOSESS has distributed 2,250 Early Childhood Education textbooks to graduates through its collaboration with BlueSpring Publishing Liberia, signaling a shift toward equipping teachers with practical tools before deployment.
‘Yellow Machines’ Metaphor Captures National Attention
Perhaps the most striking message came through the institution’s description of its graduates as “educational yellow machines,” a metaphor symbolizing their role in rebuilding Liberia’s human capital.
Graduates were urged to act as bulldozers clearing ignorance, excavators uncovering hidden potential, graders ensuring equity, loaders lifting students forward, compactors reinforcing foundational knowledge, and cranes elevating excellence.
But the institution cautioned that even the most capable educators require support.
“When these machines are underpaid, overworked, undervalued, and unsupported, they become underutilized, and the consequences are severe,” Wehye warned, calling on government and private sector actors to invest in teacher welfare and professional development.
A Shared Responsibility for the Future
Both Cooper and Dr. Wehye converged on one central message, that Liberia’s education reform requires unity of purpose and sustained commitment from all sectors of society.
For Cooper, the graduation represented more than academic achievement, it was a national call to action.
“With over 1,500 teacher-aspirants graduating, including a record number of female educators, this is not just an institutional success, it is a national victory,” she said.
She urged the graduates to view their certification not merely as a credential, but as a lifelong commitment to service, leadership, and nation-building.
“Teach with passion, lead with integrity, and serve with purpose,” Cooper charged.
As Liberia continues to confront systemic challenges in education, Saturday’s convocation made one point clear, that the path to transformation will depend not only on policy reforms and infrastructure investments, but on the strength, support, and dedication of the teachers now stepping into classrooms across the country.
